The NSW Awards of Excellence is a night to celebrate the incredible people in our organisation and the impact they have on their clubs, its members and their local communities. In 2025, there are a number of outstanding finalists from the north of the state.
Ahead of the Awards on 16 August, we are shining a light on some of these inspirational people who are being recognised for their contribution to the community through Surf Life Saving.
From the beautiful, if remote, Pacific Palms SLSC, watching proudly over Elizabeth Beach on the Lower North Coast, to Fingal Rovers SLSC whose members patrol on the NSW and Queensland border, 32 clubs across four Branches keep our state’s northern beaches safe for visitors every year.
Since 1998 at the NSW Awards of Excellence, individuals, teams and initiatives have been honoured with 57 category wins, with history indicating that Officiating and Administration are two major strengths – six times the state’s best for that year has come from the northern Branches.
Most prolific in that time has been the Mid North Coast Branch, with 22 category wins just edging out the Far North Coast on 18. The Lower North Coast has been home to 12 state winners, and the North Coast has had five previous awards.
Two out of the four winners from the North Coast have come in Youth categories, while another saw Red Rock Corindi SLSC’s Wayne Scott awarded the Official of the Year in 2017 – perhaps a good omen for Kim Wiggins who will this year contest the same category on behalf of Woolgoolga SLSC.
Meanwhile, Sara Macwilliam from Red Rock Corindi and Werner Koudela from Urunga SLSC are hoping to become the Branch’s first winners in the Administrator of the Year and Volunteer of the Year categories.
On Volunteer of the Year, only once has that member come from one of the four northern Branches – a hoodoo that was broken just 12 months ago when Elyse McMaster from Evans Head Casino SLSC on the Far North Coast was named the 2024 winner.
Cudgen Headland SLSC’s President, Adam Mills will attempt to make it two-in-a-row for the Branch in that category, while members from his club, who are also littered throughout the finalists listing, will contest awards including Assessor of the Year (Susan Eke), Club of the Year, and Support Operations Member of the Year (Matthew Bell).
The Far North Coast has proven incredibly strong in the Support Operations category since it was introduced in 2021, with two of the four winners to date.
On the Mid North Coast, the Branch may well be chasing two awards in particular to round out its overall success.
For the Education Awards, while they have twice boasted the Facilitator of the Year and once-a-piece for the Trainer of the Year and the Community Education Program of the Year, an Assessor of the Year is yet to be named from the region.
Under the Member Awards umbrella, only the Innovation Award eludes the Branch, having last picked up the Administrator of the Year in 2023 through Sandra Slattery (Tacking Point SLSC) and the Services Team of the Year the first time it was awarded in 2017.
Tacking Point SLSC’s Paul Rayner and South West Rocks SLSC’s Cultural Connections initiative are their finalists for the Assessor of the Year and Innovation Award, respectively.
Port Macquarie SLSC is up for the Club of the Year, another category the Branch has never won, while the Branch is also up for Branch of the Year – an award it last won in 2022.
Lower North Coast is also a previous winner of the Branch of the Year, doing so back in 2007, while it is a two-time winner in the Trainer of the Year (Laurie Joplin, Taree-Old Bar SLSC, 2008 & 2009).
Its nominee in 2025 for this category is Darren Bourke from Crowdy Head SLSC.
Carissa Fraser from the same club could become the Lower North Coast’s first NSW Patrol Captain of the Year, and just the third ever for the four northern Branches, while Aria Tritico of Cape Hawke SLSC will look to be named the Youth Volunteer of the Year.
Thursday 31 July 2025